Robot Wars
The American competition of the same name served as the inspiration for the game show in the United Kingdom known as Robot Wars. Between the years 1998 and2003, it was shown on BBC Two, and the last two seasons of the show were shown on Channel 5 in the years 2003 and 2004. Additional series have been filmed for particular segments of the worldwide market. These include two seasons of Robot Wars Extreme Warriors with competitors from the United States for the TNN network as well as two series of Dutch Robot Wars for distribution in the Netherlands. Joanie Laurer was the host of the American version of Robot Wars: Grand Champions in 2002, which was the fourth season of the show Robot Wars that originally aired in the United Kingdom. The Fighting Robot Association was founded by the roboteers themselves in2003, and they, together with their related event organizers, continue to take part in tournaments aimed at attracting new audiences. Teams of both amateur and professional roboteers competed against one another in the series, pitting their custom-built robots against one another in both friendly and competitive matches. In addition to competing against one another, they were required to avoid being attacked by the "House Robots," which did not have to adhere to the same weight or weapon constraints as the contenders. The show Robot Wars attracted peak audiences of 4 million people and was a commercial success in terms of its marketing.